Author's Note: Well, I can barely handle two stories, why on EARTH am I publishing a third? It's because...actually I don't know. It's just that the idea wouldn't leave me, so I had to write it. And the community's so small that I couldn't bear not putting it up. This is egoshipping, don't read it if you are offended by it.

For those people who know me through TVD and those stories, I'm updating on the 6th or 7th. Sooner if I can bring myself to write the endings of the chapters before then.

And for those people who didn't know me until just now, I hope you enjoy!

A freaking phone call. At 10:15. Misty moaned as she lifted her head off the pillow, still sleepy. She was normally awake at 7 AM training in the gym, sometimes earlier now that she had a new Corphish to work with. Trainers were now able to travel more easily between regions thanks to the new Teleportation Centers everywhere, so all the gym leaders had to work on including Pokémon from different regions on their teams.

But for god's sake, today was a SUNDAY! Her day to sleep in and have fun! It was no secret that Misty was one of the best gym leaders in Kanto, certainly the hardest working. And of course, this meant that she valued her sleep over even her sisters. She swiped the accept bar.

"What the hell is your problem?" She didn't care if it was the organizer of the Pokémon League or the freaking president, but they had no excuse for waking her up so early! Besides, everybody who knew her knew not to wake her up, so who was this idiot? "It's Sunday morning! Do you have any idea what time it is, you stupid, insensitive-"

"Misty?" a very familiar voice interrupted and she froze next to her bedside table. All she knew was that she wanted to yell some more, but she couldn't get the words to pass her lips. This…wasn't happening, she tried to reassure herself. This couldn't be happening, not now!

Clearly oblivious to her struggles (as usual!), on the other end Ash Ketchum continued. "Hey, Misty. Did I wake you up? You know how my math is, can't figure out these time zones. I don't know if you're still listening but…this is important. I know we haven't spoken in a while. What happened to us? I tried calling, many times! But you never picked up. Well, we'll figure this out, alright? I'm coming back to Kanto on Friday. See you then, I guess…"

Still in shock, she nodded, as if he could see her. This wasn't her PokéNav, just her cell phone. Then, before she could say something stupid like 'I'm sorry', she hung up and buried her face in her pillow. This was not her ideal Sunday.

Misty had lost touch with Ash about three years ago and it wasn't entirely his fault. When Misty had been Ash's travelling companion, she had developed an insane crush on him. She had fallen for a lot of boys before, but this was different. A lot of girls fell for his innocence, but everyone kind of expected that they would end up together someday- except for Ash, who was as clueless as ever.

It had been such a shock for her when Ash's mother Delia had needed to inform her that Ash had left for Hoenn with his new girlfriend, May. God, she had felt so stupid, she remembered as she recalled that awkward conversation. Delia had been surprised that Ash had gone without telling her, even more surprised that Misty wasn't the girlfriend Ash had mentioned.

Then again, he didn't need to tell her what he did all the time, did he? Oh, she had screwed up so badly. He was right, he had tried to call her, every single day since he had left, and she was too upset over nothing to pick up. So what if he had broken her heart? It wasn't as if he knew she had a crush on him.

That's why she was so lucky she had accidentally picked up today. This was an opportunity for Misty to make things right with Ash. He had said he was coming back to Kanto! But she was hesitant. She had been planning what she would say to him ever since he had left, but now she didn't feel ready at all. What would make things okay? He would have so many questions for her…

She needed to think. Sliding the glass door pane of the gym open, she stepped out, immediately regretting it. Her neighbour, Gary Oak was eyeing her condescendingly, smiling that stupid smirk of his. He had come to Cerulean right after Ash had left with May. Apparently, he had to research the effects of living near water on fire Pokémon. Why couldn't Gary go to Hoenn instead of Ash? There was more water there anyway.

"What, Gary?" she groaned. It was too early for this.

"Oh, good morning, Red. I have no idea what you're talking about," he said feigning innocence and then snickering. "Though judging by your messy hair," he touched it gingerly as if he might contract a disease from it. "Your hideous pajamas and that sulky face of yours," he pointed. "I'd say Ashy-boy finally manned up and called you."

It was Misty's turn to eye Gary suspiciously. "How do you know that?" she asked. She couldn't be the last one to know again. She meant more to Ash than that, didn't she? Surely she meant more to him than Gary?

"Dear old Ashy called me too, of course. He's been calling every day to make sure you were doing okay and yesterday he asked me how to tell you he was coming back. Poor guy can't do anything right without me." Misty rolled her eyes. Typical Gary.

"How did Ash rope you into this anyway? And how do you know how I've been doing?" Misty asked, curious now. Since Gary had come to Cerulean, they had barely spoken a few words to each other. And whatever had been said consisted of insults and swears. Their similar egos and tempers resulted in a lot of clashes, along with Misty's loyalty to Ash.

"Of course I know how you've been doing! I really care about you, Misty!" Gary said mockingly. He almost sounded like Ash, though he'd be lucky if he was half as sincere. Idiot. She grabbed his chin and yanked him closer so their noses were almost touching.

"Whoa, Red! I do like it rough but I didn't think you were up for that kind of thing…" She blushed a little but didn't back down. After all, innuendos weren't as disgusting as the idea that he might have spied on her.

"Shut up, Oak! Have you been spying on me? Tell the truth."

Gary looked baffled, then burst out in laughter, which for some reason irritated Misty more than his voice. She let go of his chin, repulsed. "That's disgusting, Red! If anything, I see you as the pain-in-the-ass younger sibling I never asked for! Let's just say I agreed because I needed something to do."

"So then how have you been giving daily reports to Ash about me?" She still glanced at him warily.

"Weekly, don't flatter yourself. And I flirt with your sisters. Daisy's kind of hot in a too-old-for-me kind of way…Pink and Purple on the other hand, they're on the easy side. Not my type. Oh, but all three of them have-"

"Ugh, too much information!" Misty scrunched her eyes shut and put her hands over her eyes.

Gary raised his eyebrow and said, "All three of them have been kind enough to let me know about you. They seem to think I'm doing this because have a crush on you. As if."

Misty snorted. That was one thing he was right about. Her and Gary? When hell froze over. But then one thing still didn't make sense…

"So what's your motive? Is Ash paying you or something?" she asked. "I mean, you could care less about either of us. You're Gary Oak- the definition of arrogant jerk!" It was impossible for Gary to do anything entirely out of the goodness of his heart. So what did he get out of doing this for Ash?

Now he looked stunned, and a bit hurt. Misty brought her hand up to her mouth, a little stunned herself. Had she gone too far? They were rude to each other all the time! Neither of them cared, or if they did, they didn't show it. Before she could apologize or take it back, Gary cut in.

"Is that really what you think, Red?" he questioned, not waiting for an answer. "You know, I may be an ass, but I'm still human. Besides, my rivalry's with Ash, not you. And it doesn't mean that Ash and I aren't friends. Heck, if you weren't so insistent on fighting for him, we might even have been friends by now. So if you're done interrogating slash insulting me, can I go?"

She watched him turn to walk away from her and decided that she hadn't been fair to Gary.

"Gary, just stay! I'm sorry."

He stopped slowly in his tracks but said nothing. Misty was about to go over and talk to him when suddenly he hunched his shoulders and started bobbing his head. Was he…laughing?

He turned to confirm her suspicion. That jerk! "Snrk! You totally fell for it! I actually think you were worried about me for a minute!" His eyes were bright with laughter and then fear.

"Why you little-"

"Ow! OW! Stop hitting me! Gosh, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She refused to stop smacking the daylights out of him just because he apologized. How dare he scare her like that! Who did he think he was? The mouth on that Oak! Finally, after she thought he'd suffered enough for the moment, she stopped.

"Whew. Geez, Red. Are you sure you're a girl?" he asked. Big mistake. When would he learn?

"Ow! OW! Alright, alright, you can stop now! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Misty finally stopped and looked at Gary. His face was red and his hair was all messed up. Her face felt warm, so she was sure she looked exactly the same way. They stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Ow. I think I'm going to be sore for days." He looked at her reprovingly with his blue eyes and she smiled sadistically.

"I think you deserve it, don't you?"

"Alright, alright, I guess I deserved that one. But never again. You got that Red? Never again."

"Who's to say we'll even see each other again?" It was true, they hadn't made efforts to before, and they saw each other two or three times a month at most. She was almost disappointed. She'd been having fun with him just now.

"Look, Red," he looked into her eyes with a serious look on his face and Misty's cheeks turned slightly red, like his nickname for her. "I was serious about us being friends. I mean, I don't know why we haven't tried before."

"What brought this on? Why now?" She had to know. Gary did have a reputation. While it was presumptuous to decide that he was trying to use her, it was also naïve to assume that he wasn't. But then, she had been having fun with him right now. And she hadn't thought about Ash once, which was rare for her.

"Why not now? I've been thinking about being friends for some time now. Since we became neighbours, actually, because life does get a little lonely in Cerulean."

As she was about to feel sorry for him, he continued, "I've already banged most of the hot chicks here. Anyway, I figured Ash will be in town soon. And it would be a nice surprise for him if something has changed since he left."

She considered it for a while. Gary was an ass. He was crude, selfish, inconsiderate…He had too many personality flaws to name! Of course, there was also the fact that Ash might consider it a betrayal.

"Okay, so supposing we do form a…friendship," God, it was hard to imagine being friends with him. "Will you help me with Ash? I know what happened wasn't his fault, but I don't want to fall into a rut like I did last time something went wrong with us."

He nodded slowly. "Supposing we do form a friendship, I would do whatever I could to help." Misty sighed in relief, before he added, "But since we haven't yet, you'll have to pay me to do that."

She groaned. "Wipe that stupid smirk off your face, Oak. How would I repay you for this favour?"

"Would you do anything for me?" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Gross.

"Ugh, Gary…"

"I kid, I kid. Let's just say a favour for a favour. I do this for you and you will owe me for the future. Who knows, maybe we'll become friends along the way. Anyway, it's 11 o' clock. I've got to go check on the Growlithe we're working with. Catch you later!" he ran off.

To get this straight, he was doing this for her for an unnamed favour in the future. That they could both forget and she could potentially back out of. Whoa. This was like a brain-freeze. As in, her brain literally hurt just imagining it. Who knew that Gary had some nice qualities to go with all that jackassery?

Maybe being friends with him wouldn't be so bad.

Author's Note: Me again! Okay, this was a relatively boring chapter. Usually not a good way to start a story, but I feel like it's important to get to know them before delving into the details. Was anyone other than me groaning when it was Ash on the phone. Just wanted to get that over with. Anyway, I seriously hope that people actually like this.

See you soon? Hoping to update this every 2 weeks. More if I can manage it. I'll try to keep updates within a month if I can't.

Bye!

-FFAA